A woman was fatally shot by a California Highway Patrol officer after she began ramming her car into a CHP vehicle early Thursday following a high-speed chase from Concord to San Francisco, a San Francisco police spokesman said.

San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens said the woman was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where she later died.

The chase began in Concord shortly after 2 a.m. when Concord police began pursuing a white Ford 500, which Gittens described as a “confirmed stolen vehicle.”

The chase continued onto Interstate 680, where the CHP took over at 2:34 a.m., said CHP Officer Ben Chaney.

The pursuit proceeded onto Highway 24 and across the Bay Bridge, reaching speeds close to 100 mph, Gittens said.

The chase ended in San Francisco’s Mission Terrace neighborhood. The driver entered Santa Rosa Avenue, which is a dead-end street, and was effectively trapped after CHP vehicles followed the car into the dead-end, Gittens said.

The driver then began ramming her car into a CHP vehicle, and one officer shot at the driver.

A passenger might have been in the suspect’s car at some point during the pursuit, Gittens said. Police have detained one person, who might have been that passenger, for questioning.

The incident is under investigation by the homicide division of the San Francisco Police Department. According to Gittens, the CHP also will conduct an administrative investigation into the incident.

"There is a general recognition that we don't need these military-style weapons in New Zealand, so it's very easy to win cross-party support for this," said Mark Mitchell, who was defense minister in the previous, center-right government and who supports the ban initiated by the center-left-led Labour Party.